Survivor: Kaôh Rōng Edgic – Episode 3

Edgic is a weekly feature analyzing each player’s edit, mapping characters to their story-arc. Note that our focus is not solely to determine the winner, as is typical of other Edgic sites. For more information on how Edgic works and rating definitions read our Introduction to Edgic article.

Survivor: Kaôh Rōng continues to be a relatively unpredictable season edit wise. But this episode did bring a few things into focus and proved right a couple of our Edgic insights from the past two weeks, particularly in regards to the edits of Aubry and Liz.

Episode 3 saw five CP edits, the most of any episode so far this season. That tells us that this episode had a bigger focus on strategy than the previous two and allowed us a better look at the thought processes of certain characters. There was only one OTT rating, meaning this episode was less focused on caricatures and more interested in fleshing out particular personalities while ignoring others.

There was also a new theme introduced – emotional intelligence. What we need to work out is whether this theme will be a continuous one throughout the season or whether it was a single episode theme.

“Survivor is always about emotional intelligence. Your ability to pick up on social cues. That’s what gets you to the end.”

That was the great quote from Jeff Probst at the end of the tribal council. What we need to be aware of is that Probst’s closing lines are the one part of the episode that is unedited. Probst and the producers will be aware of the main developing stories over the previous days, so when Probst makes his closing statement at tribal council, it is based on recent events. He doesn’t have knowledge of how the game ultimately plays out. Whereas the rest of the episode is made up of scenes specifically chosen by the editors with knowledge of the outcome and overall arc of the season. Therefore we need to be careful that we don’t read into something which could be a stand-alone remark for that particular episode.

This episode indeed used the emotional intelligence line to tie everything together thematically. But was that just for this week? Or will it continue? Much like Probst’s “walk the walk” line from Episode 1, that was a theme repeated in Episode 2, so we can place a little more weight on it. If the emotional intelligence theme pops up again in Episode 4, then we can take it more seriously.

The Recap

In this week’s recap, we were reminded that Debbie’s “oddball behavior marked her as an early pawn,” followed by a Peter confessional. This recap set us up for the episode as it was the main story of the night.

It told us that the “women’s alliance was growing stronger” followed by a Michele confessional from Episode 1; this is important because we didn’t have any direct reference to the women’s alliance in Episode 2. To highlight this alliance in the recap again is telling us that we need to be aware of it. It is going to have some impact on the game at some point.

There was then focus on Tai’s idol hunt which again was merely set up for the episode because Tai would finally retrieve the idol.

We then had a recap of what happened at the Brawn tribe last week and how Alecia was “saved” due to Jennifer’s indecision. Jason also received a lot of focus in this recap, with the inclusion of his confessional calling Alecia “useless”, and a Jennifer confessional saying “Jason’s starting to piss me off.” It reminded us that Jason is one of the key characters this season.

Under the Radar

Michele was the closest to an INV rating this week but managed to scrape an UTR1 due to her inclusion in the Tai/chicken scene and because of the reference to the women’s alliance.

It’s important to differentiate between Michele’s edit this week and say Anna’s last week, which we rated as INV. In Episode 2, Anna didn’t receive any focus and her only line in the episode was something inconsequential about clams. That made her INV by our rulings. Michele, however, received lines in a scene that was critical to the episode’s theme of emotional intelligence. Ability to pick up on social cues was the key thing that Probst highlighted. Michele recognizing that Tai was sad and voicing her empathy, “I feel bad,” demonstrated that she, and the rest of her tribe bar Nick, had emotional intelligence.

Not only that but when Anna mentioned the women’s alliance, the camera focused on a shot of Michele and Julia, as Anna continued to talk about how loyal the girls were. The fact that there was a discussion of this alliance and the edit it made it clear who was part of it, Michele couldn’t be invisible.

Two back to back UTR ratings hurts Michele a little bit, as does Anna being set up as the strategic one of the trio. But she still looks prepped to do well in the game simply due to how negative a majority of the cast look, and how careful the editors have been with the women’s alliance. She is still waiting for that breakout episode, though.

Julia is pretty much in the same position as Michele after this episode, except she also received some challenge focus that helped point her out as contributing to the tribe.

Like with Michele, Julia was shown to be empathetic with Tai and the chicken situation. “I don’t like it when people cry,” she said. Again, the entire episode was tied to the theme of emotional intelligence, and it told us that those that had emotional intelligence will go far. The episode taking the time to show Julia and Michele and their compassion at this moment is excellent for their longevity.

The Beauty tribe as a whole (again, except for Nick, who we’ll get to) gets presented as the most caring and considerate tribe. Their emotional intelligence is what has made them a cohesive and successful unit. The edit has hammered this home. You only have to look at how the Brawn and Brains tribe edits in comparison. It suggests that the people on this tribe will be around a long time and very likely the people that the audience will want to see succeed.

Again, Julia is still looking for the breakout episode to make her a strong contender and a key part of this season’s story. Right now she is still looking like the sidekick, but there are enough small positives to keep hope alive.

Things continue to look bad for Joe. Last week he came off as the grumpy old man and this week he was almost non-existent – which is bad in an episode where his tribe went to tribal council, and he was one of the decoy boots.

He received the UTR1 rating since others mentioned him as a potential boot option, and he had lines at tribal council. Other than that, Joe wasn’t made to look like an important part of the tribe. Debbie was the one leading the attack, with Joe as her footman. He received some slight negative SPV (Second Person Visibility) from Peter who called him out for doing crunches, but it wasn’t enough to give an overall N rating, plus it said more about Peter than it did Joe.

It’s hard to tell where Joe’s story arc is heading. He did receive an intro confessional which is good, and he is now clearly in a majority on the Brains tribe. He could certainly go far in the game, but there is nothing in his edit to suggest he will be a major player or an essential character. We also shouldn’t discount the references to him being a potential medevac just yet.

Middle of the Road

Caleb had a quieter edit this episode after his OTT start. It was still positive though as he was the primary person shown comforting Tai, the antithesis to Nick, and they presented him as the big challenge winner. “Caleb and Beauty win immunity!” Probst yelled.

Like Julia and Michele, he was shown to have emotional intelligence. He comforted Tai through the chicken killing and even got a confessional where he said: “…we just want to make sure that we’re here for him because he has a hard time with stuff like that.” He was also referenced as someone trustworthy by Anna and was brought in as the fourth to the girl’s alliance. We finally heard some brief thoughts on Caleb’s strategy: “Anna throws out a proposal that she wants me to be with the girls, and we’ll get rid of Nick. I don’t see that as a bad thing ‘cause if we do lose, that means me not going home.” It was relatively straightforward, but it at least shows us where he stands.

Being brought on board as a number doesn’t make it seem like Caleb will be a significant strategic force this season. But Caleb has emotional intelligence and as an audience, we are meant to feel emotionally attached to Caleb.

Neal was borderline MOR this week and only escaped an UTR rating due to a generously interpreted confessional and some decent tribal council answers. Much like with Joe, the fact that Neal received such little focus in an episode where he attended tribal council and was a potential boot target isn’t a good thing.

It’s also a bad look for Neal that he didn’t receive any credit in saving himself this episode. He was the clear target of Liz and Peter, but it was Debbie, and later Aubry, that was given credit for forming a counter play to save Neal. He did get to explain in a confessional that he knew Liz and Peter were telling lies about him and that they needed punishment, which showed a little game awareness, but this came after Debbie already informed him.

The positive for Neal is that the edit presented him as likable and logical and a significant potential threat down the road. Aubry referred to him as a straight shooter; Debbie said that she liked him, and Liz said he is very smart. It wasn’t quite enough to give him an overall P tone, but it indicated that he has a solid social game, and in an episode about emotional intelligence and social cues that can only be a good thing. The consistent mentions of how much of a threat he’ll be later in the game at least suggest he will be around later in the game so we can see if those statements become a reality.

Neal’s edit has been steady up until this point, but much like Michele and Julia, he needs a breakout episode to set him up as a major contender and character of the season.

Alecia’s edit continues to bounce all over the board. She has gone from OTTN to CPM to MOR. Despite that Alecia has perhaps the clearest theme/story to her edit out of the entire cast.

The Brawn tribe as a whole this episode were MOR and toneless. That is mainly due to their central focus revolving around an idol hunt. Alecia was still very much the underdog, with the rest of her tribe making sure she didn’t get the idol. But her SPV was mainly “We can’t let Alecia get this idol”, rather than anything explicitly negative and mean. She still had a lot of visibility, and it seems that the edit wants the audience to root for her; although her the slight dizziness of Episode 1 returned in this episode.

Perhaps the most significant part of her edit was during the challenge when the camera focused on the emotional items. The camera zoomed in on three things: Joe’s letter, Jason’s teddy bear, and Alecia’s note from her dad. The camera, however, lingered just a couple of seconds longer on Alecia’s item than any of the others.

It’s important because of the message within it. “Never give up” has been Alecia’s theme so far this season. It was the main story of the last episode best exemplified in the fire making scene. “I kind of feel like I’m at the bottom, but I don’t believe in quitting. I don’t believe in giving up,” Alecia said. Jennifer later followed that up with her opinion which supported Alecia’s claims: “One thing I love about Alecia is she’s not a quitter.” The focus on the “never give up” message in Episode 3 further cemented this as Alecia’s story arc.

How far this arc is going to take her is the big question. We’ve talked about mentions of “the money” being a good sign, and there were mentions of the money in the note. Although it did start with “It’s not about the money.” The main takeaway seems to be that Alecia will continue to fight regardless of where she places in the game. Her story could simply be about surviving the Brawn tribe, or it could mean surviving all 39 days.

Cydney had her best edit of the season so far and was close to receiving a CP-lite rating. While the majority of the Brawn content was idol focused, the episode made it clear that Cydney has real social connections with each member of her tribe.

She got to explain her relationship with Alecia and how she is keeping her on her side. She got to explain her reasons for telling Jason and Scot about the idol, even if she did give up too much information. There is a danger that she’ll ultimately just be a lackey to the Jason/Scot pairing, but so far the edit has been careful to protect her from their more overt nastiness.

What is Cydney’s role this season? It is still up in the air. Right now she is the straight woman to Brawn’s craziness. She hasn’t been shown to be openly mean like Jason and Scot and the edit doesn’t present her as ditzy like Alecia. She is strong, smart and sneaky. But it isn’t in your face. She needs a little more personal content to help us figure out her story arc this season, but she is someone to keep our eyes on.

Scot continued his string of MOR edits in Episode 3. It’s similar to Cydney except Scot has been made to look more negative. He desperately needs an episode to step out of Jason’s shadow because right now he simply seems like a sidekick.

The story on the Brawn tribe was finding the idol, and with the tool for retrieving the key missing, Jason got himself a new tool, and that tool was Scot. “It was nice having an NBA player on my side, especially a center. You know, that height paid off.” The edit was about Jason finding the idol and the NBA player helping him get it. That is not a good look for Scot. “It’s in the right hands. I’d preferred it was in mine, but I’m pretty confident Jason’s gonna take care of me.” That was also an ominous quote which suggests that Jason is keeping that idol for himself and himself only.

Scot needs some personal content outside of the Jason and Alecia story. His ideas about keeping the tribe strong were already contradicted last week and further proved wrong this week when Brawn finally won a challenge, despite Scot thinking they didn’t stand a chance with Jennifer gone. And now his edit places him in the middle of the Alecia versus Jason battle. “I have lost one of the three original alliance that I wanted, and now Alecia is very much empowered, and she could make trouble for me.” Another ominous quote. With a swap surely on the horizon, Alecia could certainly make trouble for Scot if they end up on a new tribe together, especially if Jason isn’t there with his idol to protect him.

We said last week that Jason’s edit suggests he is going to bulldoze his way through this game the way he wants to. That continued this week, quite literally, as he bulldozed down Alecia in his hunt for the idol.

His somewhat quieter edit in Episode 3 helped him, though. He needed that come down after the OTTN edit last week. There wasn’t any real negative or positive SPV to give him tone, but he did talk about his job and how it applies to the game, and he also had some brief family moments (the teddy bear). Those kind of things are good for humanizing a player. Compare his edit to Scot and Cydney, and while Jason has certainly come across more negative than them, he’s also had the most personal content and therefore feels more fleshed out as a character.

All of his confessionals were related to the idol and didn’t offer enough depth to bump him up to a CP rating. But his statements further solidified his story arc of the season. He is the bulldozer. “In this game, if you want something, you gotta go get it.” and “I try and treat this game like how I treat my job.” Jason and Alecia both have the most well-defined stories of the season so far. Jason is the aggressor that lacks social grace but will take the game into his hands by force. Alecia is the scrappy underdog that lacks game smarts but will never give up fighting.

Did this edit do enough to put Jason back into winner contention? Not really. His edit in Episode 2 was so negative it’s still really hard to see that being given to our winner. In an episode about emotional intelligence and social cues, it was glaring how much Jason lacks those things. If that is going to be a continuing theme, then that isn’t a good sign for him. It does cement though that Jason is one of the season’s main characters and potentially the main antagonist.

Nick finally got a slice of air time in Episode 3, and it had significance. Albeit to prove how out of touch he is with the episode’s main themes.

As we’ve talked about a lot now, the episode was about emotional intelligence and being able to pick up on social cues. Probst specifically told us that is what will get you to the end of the game. While the rest of the Beauty tribe were demonstrating those things exactly, Nick was doing the opposite. When Tai was upset over killing the chicken, Nick was consistently shown shrugging his shoulders and smirking.

“Tai is too in his own mind where he’s got these feelings and emotions that he has to get out. And that’s not the way to play this game.”

Nick contradicted everything that Probst told us you do need to play this game. So who is right? Well, with Aubry also talking about the necessity of emotional intelligence on the Brains tribe, and how Peter and Liz lacked that attribute, it would seem that Probst was right. Liz’s elimination came about because she lacked emotional intelligence and social awareness. “You just need to seem like you have emotions,” Nick continued. But that doesn’t work either. An Anna confessional soon followed Nick’s confessional when she said: “There’s just something about Nick that I don’t trust. He’s so difficult to talk to. He has such a fake smile and he just really rubs me the wrong way.” Nick’s fake emotions aren’t working.

He received a negative tone from Anna: “fake smile” and “rubs me the wrong way.” He also gave himself negative tone: “robot”, “cold-blooded.” Even the way he spoke with his fellow tribe mates was negative. When Tai asked “See that sound?”, Nick condescendingly replied “I hear it”; like he couldn’t resist correcting the man whose English isn’t his first language. He was playing the Liz and Peter game in an episode where the edit told us that is not the correct way to play.

Over the Top

Oh, Peter, what happened? His edit improved in Episode 2, and we got a little insight into his strategy. That strategy was to drag Debbie along as a goat. However, after Episode 3 we now know that was just set up for Debbie turning the tables on Peter this week.

The edit buried Peter in Episode 3. It seemed that every single arrogant comment he made ended up in the final cut. The edit used him as the prime definition for lack of emotional intelligence. He refused to treat his fellow tribe mates as people and saw them instead as pieces of “clay.” “They need paternal direction, and I’m being that paternal person, providing them direction in the way I want them to vote.” Peter was patronizing his fellow players.

Remember back in Episode 1 when Neal told Peter “Don’t talk too loudly. Sound carries very well over water.”? We considered at the time whether that was foreshadowing to someone getting caught in a conversation, and well, it happened in Episode 3. Debbie observed Peter and Liz talking in the water about being “bosses” of the game. Whether Debbie could hear them or not is irrelevant, the scene was edited, and subtitled, to make it appear that Debbie was listening in on their arrogant conversation. It’s also positive for Neal’s game as once again it backed up his smarts.

He had tons of negative SPV: “controlling,” “narcissistic,” “egotistical,” “bully.” Most damning of all was when Aubry said: “he doesn’t have emotional intelligence.” That was the killer in an episode where it told us that emotional intelligence is what you need to do well in this game. Peter’s winner chances plummeted in spectacular fashion.

So what does this say for Peter going forward? The fact he was the only OTT edit of the episode just shows how much the editors piled on him. It was Drew Christy level except Peter survived tribal council. It’s going to be hard for him to come back from this but there is a chance he could have a journey of self-realization. Remember his intro confessional in the premiere? It was about how he was going to find it difficult not to show how smart he is and express humility – that was proved right this episode – but now he has a chance to change that. Another positive for him lasting a while is a quote from Aubry which was subtitled: “My biggest regret in this game would be if we took Peter too far and he screwed us.” That’s very ominous sounding and suggests that Peter may get revenge at some point.

Complex Personalities

Aubry had a CP-lite edit similar to the one Michele had in Episode 1. She had one strong confessional that solidified the theme of the episode and allowed us an insight into her thoughts.

Her edit was subtle much like her gameplay. “So what are you thinking?” she asked Debbie. “That makes me feel good” she responded to Debbie’s thoughts on Neal. The edit was showing us that Aubry doesn’t talk in terms of game mechanics. She talks about people and the way they treat each other and communicate, and she uses that to try and influence the game to her benefit. Her talk with Debbie in the shelter was a perfect example of her using her social skills to maneuver in the game. We picked up in Episode 1 and 2 that Aubry looked to have a relationship with Debbie, and that was proved correct in Episode 3.

She was also the first person to mention emotional intelligence and how those with that trait are the people she wants to go forward with in the game. She singled out Peter for lacking that quality, and the edit also showed us that others were also lacking in emotional intelligence (Nick, Jason, Scot, Liz). She further elaborated on this at tribal council with her line: “There are comments or silences, and you have to know what those mean too even though they’re not numbers.” Peter then demonstrated his lack of emotional intelligence which led to an audible “wow” from Aubry. Probst then latched on to Aubry’s statements about social cues and echoed her thoughts at the end of the episode.

Aubry’s edit so far is all over the board. OTT to INV to CP. It was a good thing that she got part of the credit for saving Neal, and she also introduced the episode’s major theme. If that theme does continue throughout the season then perhaps Aubry will be around a while. The bad thing for her is that she said she’d prefer to see Peter go over Liz and that if Peter was around it could screw them later. Well, Peter is still around.

If you want an example of how crazy the editing has been so far this season, you need to look no further than Debbie. A CP5 edit after back to back OTTN edits was certainly unexpected. Debbie went from a punchline to a shrewd strategist seemingly overnight.

The recap referred to her as an “oddball.” Peter said she was a “goat.” And Liz described her as a “court jester.” However, the edit portrayed Debbie as a player and the person that called the shot of who went home. “Peter is an asset at challenges. So the person that needs to go is Liz. I see that clearly.” Debbie named the target early in the episode, and that was the result we saw. Aubry further supported that Debbie was calling the shots: “Debbie originally decided to target Liz.” Debbie explained her plans, and she put those plans into action. “To split up Liz and Peter, we need to be subversive.” “We need to implant counterintelligence.” “Sitting back gathering intel because that’s how you play this game.” Her content had great complexity, and the music cues supported it.

There was some slightly negative tinged SPV from Peter and Liz towards her but not enough to give her an N-tone, primarily because the edit was set up to make Liz and Peter look bad.

There were a couple of negative points to Debbie’s edit in this episode, though. Firstly, she was the one shown losing the puzzle for the Brains tribe. It’s not a major thing given how close she was, but it is bad when you consider her intro confessional included the boast, “Puzzles lay down for me like lovers.” If the theme of “walk the walk” still applies then, Debbie failed. Also, she said, “You know, the beautiful thing about what I’m doing is nobody really pays attention to me, and that is precisely what I want to do, fly under the radar.” The thing is, Debbie is certainly not UTR, and everybody is paying attention to her…. they just weren’t paying attention to her as a threat.

Could Debbie go from goat to winner? It still seems very unlikely with those two early OTTN edits. But she might be around a lot longer than one initially thought.

After taking a break last episode, Anna was back on top as leader of the girl’s alliance in Episode 3. We said that this week would be crucial after her INV rating in Episode 2. The CP rating was what she needed, and it puts her back in contention.

Outside of Tai, the Beauty tribe’s visibility was relatively small, but Anna did receive a lot of face shots, especially when she was finishing up with the fish and suggested saving the rest for Tai. Emotional intelligence – check. Much like in Episode 1, Anna was back in play as the narrator of all things girl alliance. Her mind was back on picking a guy to be their fourth. We heard her thoughts on each guy on her tribe. She doesn’t trust Nick and finds him fake. She does trust Caleb and Tai – which shows that Tai’s charm did work in earning back the tribe’s trust last week. Anna explained that they needed to pull over one of the guys, and we saw her accomplish that with Caleb.

It’s interesting that Anna receives the strategic content while Michele and Julia receive the most social content. With the Beauty tribe not having attended tribal council yet it’s hard to say which is better in the long-run. Right now the edit seems to suggest that the three together will be a powerful combination. Anna being set up as the strategic figurehead of the alliance could be a good thing if it takes inspiration from Kim Spradlin’s edit. Or it could be a bad thing if it takes after Jeremy Collins 1.0 edit – the clear head of the snake that is chopped off at the merge.

She recovered after her disappointing Episode 2, but we won’t fully be able to get a grasp on her story-arc until she attends tribal council. “I just don’t want to lose. If we lose, it’s going to be lots of drama,” she said this episode. That is what we are waiting for. What will happen when she is on a losing tribe and how will she handle it?

Tai continues to have a great edit, and we can no longer deny that he is up there with the other winner contenders. It isn’t simply a big character edit because they also give him multiple scenes of complexity that portray him as a rounded individual with thoughts and feelings.

If you compare Tai’s idol search to the one on the Brawn camp, it was like night and day. Tai’s idol find was triumphant, and he got to explain his thought process in detail. “I think that the tribe, truly, I think they like me as a person, but the idol is the only thing that’ll make me feel safe in this game.” He got to explain that he does understand the social game and that he did succeed in charming his tribe last week, but he’s also aware enough to know that having the idol would give him extra safety. He then lost the tool for retrieving the key, but the edit didn’t play it as “Tai the dodo”, instead he compared it to his constant struggles in life: “My whole life is just full of challenges. In Vietnam, refugee camp, coming to America, reinventing myself, and this is another big challenge. So I just make myself another tool from a stick.” It showed that he faces challenges head on and learns to adapt.

Killing the chicken further demonstrated his ability to adapt. Despite it going against his nature, he did what was needed for the tribe and his standing within it. “It is the circle of life. We need to eat something. They-they eat something else. You know, it’s the circle of life.” But he also showed emotional intelligence. “Just the sight of life draining out of my hand, I feel like I did wrong,” he said. It makes us wonder how Tai will react when having to vote someone out of the game. “I know it had to be done. It’s still very difficult to go through,”; this could all relate back to Tai’s game. “Come back for a better life” – maybe Tai will come back for a better life if he saves himself from death with the idol?

His positive tone was unmistakable. He was kind and caring. His tribe empathized with him and comforted him. And he was portrayed as a character that never gives up – which is a good sign for Alecia too. He demonstrated a complex array of emotions on various topics.

Yes, his visibility is high which would usually suggest a distraction character, but with everyone else’s edits having flaws, Tai right now is in a very strong position edgically speaking.

Liz’s edit had seemed ominous from the very start, and we saw why that was in Episode 3. There were contradictions in her edit that suggested an impending downfall and that came in rather grand fashion this week.

Luckily, she wasn’t portrayed as one-dimensional as Peter. Liz got to explain her thoughts and plans in a more detailed, complex way. “Peter and I have been looking for a tighter group of more loyal players to shepherd into the swap and the merge,” she said before continuing to give her opinions on each tribe member. It was far more CP than Peter who descended into a caricature by just making OTT arrogant statements.

Not that Liz got off scot-free. She also had her fair share of bold declarations that came back to bite her. She called Debbie the “court jester” and said that Joe seems like a “loyal soldier.” Debbie, however, plotted her downfall, and Joe was a loyal soldier, except for Debbie and not her and Peter. Statements like “I think we’ve got our finger on the pulse” and “This loss was a blessing in disguise” were huge red flags. She was also very patronizing: “They just need to write down Neal, remember it’s Neal we’re going for, and they don’t have to think about anything complicated.” But this shouldn’t have come as a shock to people who have been following the edit closely because these are the kind of things Liz has been saying since Episode 1.

After Episode 1 we said to keep an eye on the Liz and Aubry relationship. While it was more Aubry versus Peter in this episode, there was one further development in the Aubry/Liz relationship. Liz said, “Aubry doesn’t really want to talk about the game or that kind of thing.” That should have set off alarm bells for Liz because if somebody isn’t talking game with you, it probably means they’re talking game with someone else. Aubry was talking game with someone else, and that person was Debbie, and that was ultimately a bad thing for Liz. As soon as we had the scene in the first episode of Liz judging Aubry’s meltdown, we should have known they would never work together.

She, of course, had lots of negative SPV. “Primadonna princess,” “bitches or knows everything,” “oblivious.” Her association with Peter only helped to make her more negative. Her overall season rating is MORN. Even though Peter took most of the heat in Episode 3, Liz will be remembered for arrogantly thinking she was on top of the tribe and suffering a humiliating downfall.

Walk the Walk – those that can put their money where their mouth is will succeed. Those who make big claims but don’t back it up will fail. Neal is currently walking the walk (making fire, his smart comments proving correct, etc.)

Never Give Up – Alecia continues to be the scrappy underdog. Tai also demonstrated a don’t quit attitude.

The Bulldozer – Jason continues to run over people to get ahead.

The Women’s Alliance – the trio of Anna, Michele and Julia continues to be present.

Winner Contenders

Anna, Michele, Julia, Tai. Aubry and Cydney outside shot.

That is it for Survivor: Kaôh Rōng Edgic for Episode 3. Let us know your thoughts and anything interesting that we missed in the comments below.

Martin is a 29-year-old writer from England. He’s represented by Berlin Associates for comedy writing, and recaps/reviews TV shows, currently for Yahoo TV and ET Canada. A finalist for the Shortlist Sitcom Search in 2012 for “Siblings,” Martin received his BA in English with Creative Writing from The University of Hull. When not writing Martin can usually be found attending Wrestlemania events.

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Cydney only JUST started developing a little complexity in this episode. And even then, it was strictly game related. We know very little about who Cydney is as a person at this point. Her edit is very impersonal, and that’s a bad sign for her. Of the contenders, the pair with the most in common are Anna and Cydney. Both have been around to comment on the game, but not much else. The key difference between them is that the edit keeps telling us that Anna is important; she’s going to be someone to watch as the game continues. In contrast to this, Cydney has been burried by the edit. She’s the least developed of the Brawns and there’s been nothing to suggest she’ll be a major presence down the road. Now, this could be the edit shielding her from all the negativity surrounding the Brawn tribe – we won’t know for sure where Cydney is headed until we get to the tribe swap.

Red

Yay a positive one about Anna.

I am probably the only one hoping for a Tai down fall

Taubs

Quickly becoming obsessed with Edgic. It has added another level of enjoyment to Survivor. Two questions I have are…

First: Have the producers or editors ever commented on Survivor Edgic and given their thoughts on the rating systems, foreshadowing, double meanings etc that you guys focus on?

Second: Is there somewhere I can find Edgic discussions and ratings for past seasons (currently re watching old seasons in order and I am about to start Pearl Islands). I have tried Survivor Sucks but it is a very messy site to find anything.

Martin Holmes

Hmm. Not sure if there is anywhere that has an easy to read breakdown of each season. Most past seasons Edgic analysis will probably be on forum discussion boards, so a little harder to follow.

Jeff

I agree with your top winner contenders. HOWEVER, I don’t think Tai will win. From an edgic standpoint, he looks good… But (if we think about what Jeff has said about this season during the pre-season press), I feel like Probst would have praised this season if Tai won. We remember how high Probst was on Worlds Apart. And a huge reason he was, was because he really liked Mike as a winner. Jeff Probst often roots for the strong resilient guy and Mike won. Jeff tends to hype up seasons where he thinks the audience will really love the winner. So if Tai won, you would have to think Jeff would be SO excited to have a winner which the audience were such big fans of. So I don’t think the winner will be Tai.

Anna and Michele are by far the biggest two contenders. Julia, Cydney, Aubry, Tai, Neal and Debbie are the longer outside shots but most of them are unlikely too. Winner will almost definitely be a woman this season! It’s time for another female winner anyway.

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